ful are more abundant, there is, alas! no doubt a growing
number of unsuccessful workers in this very much over-crowded market.
In fact, it is becoming a profession in which it is only possible
to survive if the worker has some private means, or a supplementary
trade.

I believe that this question of a supplementary trade requires
consideration, and am, myself, at present working on the subject, in
the hope that a scheme may be evolved to ensure those willing to
work an opportunity of gaining a livelihood during the long "resting"
periods. This waiting for work is almost universally the largest part
of an actress's life; and any satisfaction in the magnitude of the
wages which may be obtained must always be balanced by the knowledge
that an enormous number of weeks must be taken into consideration,
when work is quite unattainable.

Here is one of the gravest disabilities of the profession. Only
continuous work can develop the powers of any artist, and this
is particularly true of the art of the theatre. Under the present
conditions an artist is, with an entire want of reason, raised to a
pinnacle of importance when playing a good part in a successful play;
but she may with equal suddenness be dashed into a gulf of failure and
non-productiveness, also without reason.

There have been many artists, who at the end of a brilliant run of
a successful play, to the success of which they have largely
contributed, have found themselves forgotten by the powers that be,
and have discovered with bitter disappointment that a successful run
may result in being left utterly ignored, without a single offer of
work.

The Christmas pantomime and the summer season cut down the actor's
year to forty weeks. From information which I was able to obtain from
the Actor's Association, the average yearly income of an actor is L70.
From this, L37 may be deducted for travelling and other expenses. For
though the actual railway fare is usually paid, no allowance is made
for conveyance of luggage from station to lodgings, and the constant
change of quarters naturally makes the weekly expenditure on a higher
scale. On these figures the average weekly earnings of an actor would
be 12s. 6d., or 1s. 9d. per day.

This is the average income of an actor when working, but under present
conditions, the average day for an average actress is one in which she
looks for work. So let us take the average day of the average actress,
and see how she spends it